Forage harvesters are used for harvesting whole plants or their parts, which are picked up from a field by means of a harvester head, pressed together by means of pressing rollers and led to a cutter drum, whose chopping cutters comminute the plants in cooperation with an opposing cutter. Then the comminuted plants or parts are optionally supplied to a conditioning unit and conveyed by an acceleration unit into an ejection chute that loads them onto a transport vehicle. The comminuted plants generally are used as animal feed or for generating biogas.
The conditioning unit generally comprises two or more rollers driven in opposite directions that are pre-stressed against one another by spring force and between which the chopped material is fed. It is required for corn harvesting to beat the kernels contained in the chopped material to improve the digestibility of the feed. Conditioning is not required for grass harvesting, on the other hand, for which reason the rollers of the conditioning unit are either brought into a position in which a sufficiently large gap remains between them, or the conditioning unit is moved out of the channel between the chopper drum and the accelerator and a hollow shell is inserted in its place. If the conditioning unit is not required for a long time, it is typically removed from the forage harvester and stored.
A harvesting machine of the type mentioned above is described in EP 1 869 966 A1. Behind the channel between the chopping drum and an accelerator in a forage harvester, an accessible service space is provided, into which the conditioning unit can be moved when not in use. An arm is articulated pivotably about a vertical axis to a frame connected to the chassis of the forage harvester. A winch seated movably along the arm is mounted on the arm. A traction means that can be wound up by the winch is used for lifting the conditioning unit. For removal, the arm with the winch is accordingly positioned above the conditioning unit that has been moved to the rear, the traction means is locked on the conditioning unit and the latter is lifted with the winch. While the conditioning unit is being moved out, the winch is moved a bit along the arm and the arm is pivoted by an angle about the vertical axis, in succession or at the same time, in order to prevent the conditioning unit from striking against the walls of the maintenance space. Finally, the conditioning unit is outside the maintenance space and can be lowered from there onto the ground or a vehicle. In another embodiment, the arm consists of two telescoping parts and the winch is mounted at the outer end of the outer part.
During the removal and installation of the conditioning unit of EP 1 869 966 A1, the winch must be moved manually by the operator relative to the arm (or the telescoping part of the arm relative to the part of the arm pivotably articulated about the vertical axis). The rather high mass of the conditioning unit, often more than 100 kg, causes tilting of the movable elements, which in turn makes the movement quite sluggish.
The problem underlying the invention, for a harvesting machine with a transport unit having a first arm articulated pivotably about a vertical axis to the frame of the harvesting machine, a winch and a traction means connected to the winch for lifting the crop processing unit out of its non-operating position and for moving the crop processing unit into a position outside the harvesting machine, is to improve the harvesting machine in such a manner that the movement of the crop processing unit out of the harvesting machine (and in the opposite direction) is facilitated.